XXIV.
Dear old Killynoogan, thee,
Once so full of life and glee,
Lifeless, desolate, I see!
XXV.
But, beloved and sacred spot,
Nought of thee shall be forgot,
Till what I am now—is not.
“What can I do that others have not done?
What can I think that others have not thought?
What can I teach that others have not taught?
What can I win that others have not won?
What is there left for me beneath the sun?
My labour seems so useless, all I try
I weary of, before ’tis well begun;
I scorn to grovel and I cannot fly.”
“Hush! hush! repining heart! there’s One whose eye
Esteems each honest thought and act and word
Noble as poet’s songs or patriot’s sword.
Be true to Him: He will not pass thee by.
He may not ask thee ’mid His stars to shine,
And yet He needeth thee; His work is thine.”
HASTINGS.
October 14th, 1066.
I.
October’s woods are bright and gay, a thousand colours vie
To win the golden smiles the Sun sends gleaming thro’ the sky;
And tho’ the flowers are dead and gone, one garden seems the earth,
For, in God’s world, as one charm dies, another starts to birth.